Does your history really make you a big club in the present day?

After reading Stan Collymore's claim that Nottingham Forest are a big club, Editor Dean Mears looks at whether your history really makes you a big club in the modern day.
Stan really knows his stuff when it comes to football, and I often agree with what he says on his Call Collymore show for TalkSPORT.I was just shocked he regards Leeds and Nottingham Forest as bigger clubs than say Chelsea. Nottingham Forest may have won the European Cup but that was a long time ago, football is bigger than England and Forest are an unknown team around the world.

Firstly, I think we need to define our definitions of big, the dictionary says "of considerable size" (fan base) "of considerable force" (competiting for trophys).  To expand on "of considerable size" I believe to be a big club you must be known world wide, football is a global game, when you see children in Africa playing football how many Nottingham Forest shirts do you see? When Robinho signed for Manchester City he didn't even know they existed which shows how big their transformation has been.

The rest of Stan's list was Spurs, Villa, City, Forest, Leeds, Everton, Arsenal, United, Liverpool, Sunderland, Derby and Wolves. Only 3 of his former clubs, for me to be a big club TODAY you must be challenging for trophy's and be a force in world football, so that takes away Villa, Forest, Leeds, Everton, Sunderland, Derby and Wolves. I think what me and Stan disagree on is the fact that your status as a big club can diminish, take Manchester City for example, for the past 30 years their status as a big club had faded (Robinho example) today, they are playing Champions League football, challenging United for the league and can bring in the best players.

Stan's idea of a big club is: won things over a period of time, maintained a fan base, known for great teams and are big clubs in every way. So I went through each club he picked that I disagree with and checked out the last time they won a major trophy, the time in which they have failed to win silverware will show how much their status has diminished.

Aston Villa: 1996 League Cup
Leeds: League Title 1991
Nottingham Forest: 1990 League Cup
Everton: 1994 FA Cup
Sunderland: 1973 FA Cup
Derby: League Title 1975
Wolves: 1980 League Cup

Just how these clubs can still be 'big' is beyond me, these they may have had successful era's, but they're status has diminished over time where they have stopped challenging for honours. Stan will be picking his top 10 big clubs today at 4pm, before United take on Chelsea,so if you want a laugh tune in.